In The House of her Brother
by Sonnenkoenigen
Summary: In which Lenalee learns to be an Exorcist.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Usual disclaimer applies. I don't own DGM. I just borrow the characters and setting.

My intention is for this story to continue, but it will probably update very slowly. I'm not as far ahead as I usually am when I start posting something ongoing. If you like it, please let me know. There is no end in mind, not right now anyway, which leaves me less motivated to continue than usual. If there's little interest in it, I'll probably stop more or less at random.

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**Welcome** **Home**

At first, she wasn't sure where she was. The feel of the room was familiar, the medicinal smell, the rough sheets, the inescapable cold, but something was strange, and it took her a few minutes to realize what it was.

She was sleeping on her side.

It was the first time she'd woken up without the restraints.

She opened her eyes, rubbing at them, trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head. The stitches in her arms pulled as she stretched. There were no windows, but the lights in the hallway were on and she could hear people moving around.

She listened, but she didn't hear Rouvellier's voice, or his footsteps, heard so often in her nightmares. The drugs didn't help. They left her so confused and groggy she could no longer tell if she was awake or asleep. It all felt like dreaming.

Dreaming. Dreaming of Komui in the white coat of the Science Department, sitting beside her bed, stroking her hair.

Had that been a dream?

No. No, because his hair was longer and he was a little taller. And his eyes were sad.

_Komui._

She curled into a ball and cried relief and guilt into the flat, hard pillow.

By the time she heard the light knock on the door, she had quieted down considerably. "Komui?" she called, wiping her face on the sheet.

"I'm sorry, Lenalee," said the man who poked his head around the door before walking in and taking the chair beside her bed. "Komui's working right now. I'm Kevin Yeegar, one of the Generals here. If you're ready, I've come to teach you to be an Exorcist."

An Exorcist. She didn't want to be an Exorcist. She wanted to go home and live with her brother, go back to school, to the friends she was already beginning to forget. Her old life was becoming hazy and it made her angry because they were replacing home and family with barren rooms and echoing halls.

_This is home now._

"Can I see my brother?" _I'm sorry, Komui!_

"Of course! But first, you need a bath and some clean clothes and breakfast. Do you think you're ready for that yet.

"Breakfast?" she asked, sniffing and wiping her face again. How long had it been since she'd eaten anything solid?

"All right." General Yeegar pressed the call button over Lenalee's bed, and a nurse came in.

"What do you need?" The nurse was a severe, disapproving woman with gray hair in a tight bun.

"A breakfast tray for Lenalee, and a cup of coffee for me. Any special requests, Lenalee?"

"Um…" Lenalee wiped at her face yet again, thinking of the last real breakfast she could remember. "No fish. Please."

The nurse nodded. "No fish. How do you take your coffee, General?"

"One sugar," General Yeegar said.

The nurse nodded and closed the door.

"So you don't like fish, Lenalee?" General Yeegar asked.

She looked at him finally. He was older, as old as her father at least, with a large white mustache and melancholy eyes. "I like it," she said. "I just don't want to eat it right now."

"Well Jerry has been dying to make something special for you, so give some thought to what you might like to eat later and we'll tell him."

"Who's Jerry?" she asked.

"He's our new cook, a friend of your brother. He's only been here a few weeks, and everyone loves him."

A friend of her brother? Was that two lives she'd ruined, not one?

"Don't be sad, Lenalee," General Yeegar said. "Jerry was happy to get the job. He gets to run his own kitchen now, and he's enjoying it very much."

Even so, Lenalee had two people to protect, not one. She wouldn't just make it up to Komui, she would make it up to Jerry, too, keep them both safe from the monsters.

There was a knock on the door, and the nurse came in with a tray. "Here's your coffee, General," she said, passing a steaming mug to General Yeegar. "And for you, Lenalee, we have congee with chicken and some Yu Za Kuei. Jerry's been making them for Komui, so we thought you might like some, too."

Lenalee looked at the tray they settled on her bed, a bowl of fragrant rice porridge decorated with green onions, a plate of fried bread twists, and a cup of tea. "Thank you," she said.

"You're very welcome," the nurse said. "Please let me know if you need anything else."

Lenalee looked up at the nurse. Although her mouth was stern, she had kind eyes. Lenalee had seen those eyes a lot as the nurse checked on her injuries, shaking her head and muttering under her breath about what kind of people tortured children until they tried to kill themselves. _That's three_, she thought as the nurse closed the door behind her. _I can protect Nurse, too._

Lenalee dipped a piece of bread into her bowl, then put it in her mouth, closing her eyes with unexpected pleasure. Komui burned everything, but this was cooked perfectly, the porridge smooth as silk and the bread crisp. The tea was mild, not over-steeped and then over-sugared to compensate. It didn't remind her of home at all.

Then she noticed the pills beside her bowl. "Do I need these?" she asked. "I promise I won't run away." She didn't want to sleep anymore.

"It's nothing nasty," General Yeegar assured her. "Just some vitamins, to help you get your strength back."

"Really?"

"Really," he said. "I promise I won't lie to you. It means that sometimes I'll tell you things you might not want to hear, but I will always tell you the truth."

That wasn't a promise she could take at face value. People had lied to her over and over since she came to the Order, but it was the first time such a promise had been made at all. She didn't have to trust it, but she did have to take the pills, or they'd tie her down again and give her shots. "Okay," she said.

He let her eat in silence, sipping contentedly at his coffee until she finished, then he rang again for the nurse, who took the tray and set a pile of folded clothes on the foot of the bed. It was an undershirt with underpants to match, a pair of snug shorts, long stockings, and a black and silver Exorcist's coat made to look like a dress. On top of it all was a pair of hospital slippers. No real shoes.

She looked apprehensively at General Yeegar.

"Are you ready to see Hevlaska?" he asked.

She wasn't ready. She didn't want to see that monster, and she didn't want her Innocence. She hated it. It had torn her life apart, and Komui's life, and Jerry's, too. Jerry probably had a family somewhere that he would never see again. Nurse, too, had left people behind. Everyone at the Order always did.

If she was going to protect Komui and Jerry, and Nurse, she had to learn to fight. She nodded.

"I'm going to take you to the baths. Will you be all right there by yourself, or should we call for an aide?"

"I'll do it myself," she said.

"Then here's your robe. Put it on, and I'll take you there."

When she tried to stand, her knees buckled and her legs felt like noodles. She hadn't used them in what seemed like forever. General Yeegar caught her arm to steady her, and she found her balance again, putting one foot in front of the other, the floor cold through the thin soles of her slippers.

The bath helped. The water sent wisps of steam into the air, and there were lots of soaps to choose from. She picked one that smelled like flowers, then went to the deepest part of the pool where she sat on the lowest ledge, the water up to her mouth, moving her arms and legs as if she was swimming. It felt wonderful. She hadn't washed properly in a long time so she washed more than once, and held her nose to submerge herself completely, shaking her head to get all of the soap out of her hair. When she came up again, the bubbles were floating away on the current, and she waited until they were all gone before she got out, dried off, and put on her Exorcist's clothing.

"Lenalee, you look wonderful!" General Yeegar said when she came back into the hall.

She looked down at her uniform for what must have been the tenth time. It fit just right and was surprisingly comfortable. "When can I see my brother?" she asked.

"Jerry and I have figured out a special trick so that you can see him almost any time you want," the General said in a stage whisper, "but we have to get past Hevlaska first. Do you think you can do that?"

Hevlaska. The first time Lenalee had seen Hevlaska, she'd screamed in terror, and Rouvellier had made his Crows tie her up and gag her.

"Don't worry, Lenalee. It's just going to be you and me this time. Hevlaska's still pretty scary-looking, but I think we can do it. What do you think?"

_Komui. Jerry. Nurse._ Lenalee nodded.

"That's my brave girl!"

They took the elevator down to the lower levels, and Lenalee thought she was going to be all right, but when they reached the door, she felt tears well up in her eyes. General Yeegar just reached into his pocket for a handkerchief and waited for her nod.

_Komui. Jerry. Nurse. _She set her hand on the doornob and slowly, deliberately turned it.

On the other side of the catwalk was that bizarre, luminous figure that made Lenalee think of a giant squid. Rouvellier's voice filled her head, bellowing at her, at Hevlaska, at the Crows, at everyone, giving orders that no one dared to disobey. She reached for the General's hand, and clung to it as she willed each foot ahead of the other, the steel grating digging into her feet through her slippers.

"Hello, Lenalee," the light, echoing voice said. "I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot before. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Hello, Hevlaska," General Yeegar said.

"Good morning, General," Hevlaska said. "How is she today?"

"Much better," the General said.

"Excellent! I'm so glad you're recovering, Lenalee. I've been worried about you. Come closer. I will have to touch you, but it won't hurt. I have to make sure you're ready to synchronize."

_Komui. Jerry. Nurse. _"I…I am," Lenalee whispered. _Left,_ she thought, staring at the catwalk as she forced herself to move. _Right. Left. Right._

"That's close enough," Hevlaska said. "Can you reach out your hand?"

Lenalee swallowed, tears running down her face, her body shaking as she offered her hand.

The tip of a pale tentacle touched her palm, and she felt the strange invasion of Hevlaska's mind. She flinched, and General Yeegar's hands settled on her shoulders, not restraining her so much as giving her something warm and human to lean on. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to think about her brother. He had given up everything for her. The least she could do was confront her own resentment and cowardice.

The tentacle withdrew. "I believe you are ready now," Hevlaska said. "Here. Put these on."

On the grate in front of Lenalee was a pair of black shoes, and she sat down to put them on, setting her slippers neatly aside. The shoes fit, even flexed a little as she moved her feet, but they were cold and heavy, as if they were made of metal. She waited for pain, but it didn't hurt so much as send a rush of despair through her, as if something important was being lost. She no longer belonged to herself, or to her family. She belonged to the Order, and to the God she hated with all her heart.

"Very good, Lenalee," Hevlaska said. "Can you stand up?"

General Yeegar offered his hand, and Lenalee took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

"I have to touch you again," Hevlaska said, "and this time it has to be more than your hand. I'm sorry. I know you're frightened, but I want to make sure you're properly synchronized. Otherwise, you'll hurt yourself trying to invoke. Are you ready?"

Lenalee felt her lip quiver. She wasn't ready. Hevlaska looked so huge and strange. _Komui. Komui. After this, I can see Komui._

Once again, she nodded.

The tentacles reached for her again, wrapping around her, lifting her up, and she closed her eyes as tight as she could so she wouldn't have to see that strange face. She felt Hevlaska's forehead touch hers, felt the resonance echoing in her body. She didn't want to start really crying, but she did, smothering the sound in the General's handkerchief. After years of fighting the Order in every way she knew how, she had surrendered. She was an Exorcist.

But they had Komui. What else was she supposed to do?

Hevlaska held her for a while, stroking her hair with a slender limb, then set her down again. "Seventy-eight percent. That's good enough to start with. Try to invoke for me."

"What?" Lenalee asked.

"Invoke your Innocence. I would like to see what form it takes."

Lenalee nodded and wiped her cheeks, thinking again of her brother, of Jerry, of the nurse. If she was going to fight, she would have to make these shoes into a proper weapon. _Innocence?_ she thought. _Can you invoke?_

Energy swirled around her feet and up all the way to her knees, making her feel light as a butterfly. Her shoes became boots, black with streaks of green fire, and when she jumped, they carried her so high into the air it scared her. They set her down when she asked, and when she kicked at the catwalk, sparks flew up around her toe.

"Excellent!" Hevlaska said. "You've done well, Lenalee. You're going to be a good Exorcist."

Lenalee made her Innocence go back to just shoes. When she risked a quick look at Hevlaska, she saw that the strange face was smiling. "Thank you," she whispered, then she picked up her slippers and looked at General Yeegar. "Can I see Komui now?"

"Yes," the General said, taking the slippers and offering her his hand, "and you get to meet Jerry on the way. Thank you, Hevlaska."

"You're welcome, General," Hevlaska said. "Lenalee, I'm very happy to see you doing better, and I hope I won't frighten you so much in the future."

Lenalee gave Hevlaska a quick nod before they turned to go. The Dark Boots rang on the steel catwalk, then clicked on cold stone as she walked.

The cafeteria was huge and thankfully almost empty. People whispered and pointed, but General Yeegar ignored them and led Lenalee to the counter. "Jerry, we need a cup of strong, black coffee."

"Coffee! Now! Hello General!" said a voice, then a face peered down at her. It was Indian, with long, braided hair and a broad smile. "So this is Komui's darling sister! What a gorgeous little doll! You have no idea how happy your brother is going to be to see you up and about! I'm Jerry, and I've been looking forward to meeting you. Quick, while the coffee's getting ready, what's your favorite thing to eat? It's time for me to start lunch."

"Um…I don't know," Lenalee said. For the most part, she'd eaten very little but soups. "I like steamed buns. And jelly."

"Steamed buns and jelly it will be!" Jerry put a large mug on a tray and handed it carefully down to her. "Any time you want to see your brother, you come see me first and get some coffee, all right? Everyone knows how much Komui loves his coffee, and nobody will mind if you bring it to him." Jerry winked.

"Thank you," Lenalee said, holding the tray carefully.

"I'll see you at lunch, all right?" Jerry said.

Lenalee nodded.

General Yeegar led her down a long hallway to another elevator that opened into a hive of activity. There were screens all along the walls, piles of books everywhere, people going to and fro, and an argument in a far corner. One voice was unfamiliar, but the other was beloved and much longed-for.

"Komui!" she yelled.

"Easy there!" General Yeegar put his hand on her shoulder, and coffee splashed onto the tray.

"Lenalee!" Komui ran toward her, pulling her into a hug with one hand while snatching the mug with the other. "You're awake! I'm so glad to see you; you look wonderful! Everybody, this is my baby sister Lenalee!"

They were surrounded by a sea of faces, and Lenalee looked at them all from the shelter of her brother's arm. It wasn't just Komui's face or voice or warmth that she'd missed, it was his smell, a mix of sandalwood and his beloved coffee. She pressed herself into his side, her arm around his waist, and a hubbub introduced itself to her all at once.

"Hang on," someone said, a man with blond, spiky hair. "Where did you get that coffee?"

"I got it from my wonderful sister," Komui said.

"Why don't I have a wonderful sister?" the man asked, winking at Lenalee.

"Because you aren't wonderful enough, Reever," Komui said.

"Oh, I'm a lot more wonderful than you are!" Reever said. "I'm the one who should get a little sister. She doesn't even have to bring me coffee."

"Me, too!" another man said.

"And me!"

"I want a sister! Where's my sister?"

Lenalee listened, her eyes moving from one speaker to another. These were the scientists, ordinary men who had lost or given up their homes and families. Maybe, like Komui, some of them had sisters they hadn't seen in years. She looked at them all, trying to remember names and match them to faces, so she could remember who she was fighting for. "Um…General?" she asked.

"What?" General Yeegar leaned down so he could hear her.

"Can we get more coffee? Enough for everybody?"

"Of course we can!"

A cheer went up, and Komui squeezed Lenalee close, planting a kiss on the top of her head. "Welcome home, Lenalee. Welcome home."

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_And Tamar stayed, desolate, in the house of Absalom her brother - _2 Samuel 13:20, translation by Robert Alter


	2. The Chosen Children

**Author's note:** I messed with Daisya's backstory, because the anime version didn't have enough tragedy in it.

Thank you, everyone for reviewing.

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**The Chosen Children**

Lenalee loved waking up in her own room, to the chatter of birds outside her window, passing voices in the hall, none of the stress and antiseptic of the infirmary. She sat on her bed, hugging her knees, letting the quiet soak in. Today, she would return to full training.

The top floor of the training hall had three kinds of mats. Kanda trained on tatami with an elderly Japanese man whose barking of orders had taught Lenalee to count to eight in that language. Another area was for striking and grappling, with springs under the mats to absorb the impact of a hard fall. The third part also had springs underneath, but these made it the tiniest bit bouncy, so that a gymnast could keep her momentum.

To her great relief, they had found her a new coach. "You must be Lenalee," said a young woman with blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore a black shirt and matching shorts, and she had the strongest legs Lenalee had ever seen. "I'm Ada, and I'll be working with you from now on. We're going to start with some warm-ups, and then we'll see what you remember."

It was always nice to have a reason to take off the Dark Boots. They fit, but they would never be comfortable. It was also nice to be back on the mats. As far back as she could remember, she had wanted to do gymnastics, and until Komui came, it was the one good thing about the Order. It felt good to do aerials and handsprings again, felt good to slam down on the springboard before clearing the vault, felt good to do a walkover on the balance beam, felt good to spread chalk on her hands as she faced the uneven bars. She was a little rusty after training sporadically for the last year, but not as bad as she'd feared, and when she finished she was breathless and a little euphoric.

"How did she do?" General Yeegar asked as Lenalee was putting her shoes and stockings back on.

"She's a natural," Ada said. "As old as she is, she wouldn't be worth training otherwise."

"When will she be ready?"

"In a few months, I think."

Lenalee felt a chill run down her spine.

"That soon?" General Yeegar asked.

"Yes. She needs to build up strength, but given what I'd heard, I didn't expect her to do this well."

"She's been making a good recovery," General Yeegar said, a little too firmly. "Good job today, Lenalee. Wash up now. It's time for lunch."

After lunch, there were lessons in the library, then a little free time, then more training, then supper. Whenever she could, she brought coffee to the Science Department, and during her free time, they let her study there, sometimes her schoolwork and sometimes books they thought she'd like, books about science and Innocence. For the first time since she was taken to the Order, she felt like she had a home.

A week later, Lenalee looked up from her lunch at the sound of voices in the doorway, and saw General Tiedoll come in with someone new at his side. "General!" she shouted as she got up, leaving her tray to run and greet the tall man with uncontrolled orange hair and paint smears on his Exorcist's coat. "Welcome home!"

"Lenalee!" He picked her up in a great hug and spun her around before putting her back down. "You're well again! Thank God for that! Look at you, you've grown! You're nearly a young lady now."

"I'm so glad you're back," she said, smiling. General Tiedoll was one of her favorite people, and she'd been sad that he was gone when she recovered. "Who is this?" She looked at the boy beside him, who looked to be about her age, a new Exorcist with a long hood attached to his coat that had a bell jingling on the end. His head and neck were covered in bandages, and he had two black marks like tear streaks under his eyes.

"Oh, that's right! You haven't met Daisya Barry," the General said. "He's my newest apprentice. Daisya, this is Lenalee Lee, another of our Exorcists."

"Nice to meet you," Lenalee said, offering her hand.

Daisya took it, shaking it gingerly. "You, too."

"Why don't you two have lunch together so you can get acquainted? Lenalee, where's your Master? I need to talk to him."

"General Yeegar's in the library, I think," she said. At least that was where he usually was. "Where's Kanda?"

"With Komui. He'll be along sh…ah, there you are!" General Tiedoll said, turning at the sound of boot heels on stone. "Hello, Yu! Look who's here!"

Kanda stopped abruptly, blinked, and looked Lenalee up and down. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"What does it look like?" she asked.

Kanda looked pointedly at her feet. "You finally got your Innocence. About time." Then he pushed past them and strode toward the cafeteria in search of soba.

"Just the same as always," Lenalee said, laughing.

"So he is. Excuse me. I'm going to find Kevin."

"All right," Lenalee said. "Come on, Daisya, let's get you some food. You must be starving. Everyone always is after a mission."

"Yeah, I am, thanks," Daisya said, and they went over to Jerry's window so that Daisya could order.

"How long have you been here?" Lenalee asked when Daisya settled his tray across the table from hers. His plate was filled with twisted dumplings in sauce, with a dish of cucumbers and yogurt to the side.

"About six months," he said around a mouthful of food. "What about you?"

"A few years," she said, "but I only just got my Innocence a few weeks ago."

He swallowed. "Wait, I know who you are! You're the girl who refused to synchronize."

She let out a breath and carefully schooled her face into a mildly pleasant expression, but inside, her heart sank. Like all of the others, he had already made up his mind about her. "Yes."

"Did you really throw yourself over the railing? Because if so, that's amazing. I would never have had the guts."

Lenalee relaxed. Apparently, this boy had a different sort of mind. "I tried to. I didn't make it."

"They say the Crows didn't catch you until you were halfway down."

"I wasn't quite that fast," she said.

"Still." Daisya took another bite, chewed, and swallowed about half of it before he spoke again. "I know that feeling, the first time they give you your Innocence. I didn't mind because here's better than home, but if I didn't want to be here…" He swallowed the rest of his mouthful. "I used to think that the best thing I could do was end it all. I just never had the guts to pull the trigger, and then my Master showed up, so here I am. Hey, are you related to the new director? You have the same last name."

"He's my brother."

"Ah!" With that one syllable, Daisya said so much, _I'm sorry, I'm glad, I wish things were different._ "So what's your Innocence?"

"The Dark Boots," she said. "I can fly in them, and kick things. What about you?"

"Charity Bell," Daisya shook his head, making the bell on his hood ring. "I kick it like a football, and it shakes the Demons to pieces."

"You play football?" she asked.

"Every chance I get!" He grinned. "When I found out I'd be traveling with another guy, I thought maybe we could kick the ball around a little, but I guess you know Kanda."

Lenalee laughed. "He won't play anything with anybody! Maybe you could teach me." Maybe Daisya would be happier at the Order if he had someone to play football with.

Daisya looked dubious.

"You already know I can run and kick. You can show me the rest."

"Will they let you? Girls don't usually play."

"They let me do anything." They were so thrilled to see her functioning that even Komui didn't care how unladylike her interests were, as long as she had interests.

"Do you have lessons with us after lunch?" Daisya asked.

"Yes."

"How about after that? We can go to the courtyard."

"All right." She had a vague idea that she'd once played outdoors with other children, but like every other part of her old life, it was slipping away. "What happened to your head?" she asked. "Were you hurt on your mission?"

"Nah!" Daisya said, this time going for his cucumbers. "A few years ago, our house burned down. I got my little brothers out in time, but I didn't quite make it. My hair and clothes caught fire, and I got burns all over my face and head."

"I'm sorry!" she said, looking more closely at him. Sure enough, some of the skin on the side of his face was a little different from the skin around it, as if his cheek and temple were a patchwork quilt. "It's good, though, that you saved them."

"Thanks." He took a deep breath and blinked. "I didn't really save them, though. I was too slow. My middle brother had too much lung damage from the smoke. Took him about a year to die. My Ma was so heartbroken she…"

_Turned him into a Demon._ Lenalee finished the sentence in her head. "I'm sorry."

"I know how it feels to wish you were dead. I sure did. Then Master showed up, and the Charity Bell decided there was something in me worth bothering with, so here I am. I don't know what would have happened if I'd stayed. We lost almost everything, see, and there were eight of us kids. Master promised they'd give money to my family. It's something, you know? At least I could give them something, and the Order did some work on my burns. My face is all right, but they couldn't do anything about my ears and I'll never grow my hair back, so I just wear bandages."

"It's okay," Lenalee said. "Everybody always has bandages around here. What about your eyes? It looks really cool." Actually, it looked a little disturbing, but it was no worse than Marie's hair, Kanda's mark, General Klaud's scar, or General Zokalo's mask.

"Thanks." He gave her a slight nod. "One tear for each for my Ma and my brother."

"That's really sweet," Lenalee said softly, "that you remember them." She had no memory left of her parents.

"Only wish I could have done better, y'know? I wish they were still alive, even though I know it's a bad wish." Daisya looked up at the clock. "We better hurry! We have lessons in ten minutes."

Lenalee followed his gaze. "Yeah." She stood, grabbing her tray. "I have to get my books. See you there?"

Daisya, who was shoveling the last of his food into his mouth as fast as he could, nodded.

When she got to the library, Kanda was already there, going over the work he'd done while he was on the road. He glanced at her and snorted with irritation before going back to his notebook.

He would hate it if she told him, but it was good to see him, too.

After lessons, she and Daisya went to the courtyard. It was ringed on three sides by a high fence, and a scaffolding stood along the wall of the castle itself, where workmen had been replacing the crumbling mortar, making sure it would be ready for winter. There was a garden adjacent to the open lawn, where Kanda had already settled in to meditate. He knew where she and Daisya were going and could have chosen another place, but instead he'd decided on the garden, the closest he would get to admitting that he wanted company. He did not, however, want conversation or to join in, so she and Daisya ignored him.

Football, it turned out, involved more than running and kicking. Handling the ball, as Daisya put it, meant exercising every bit of control she had in resisting the impulse to catch it, even when it was flying at her face. Headers, though, were fun once she learned how, and after a little while she could dribble the length of the courtyard, although Daisya could take the ball from her with no effort to speak of. She was going to have to work hard to get good enough to make playing with her fun for him.

"Hey, can you help me try something?" Daisya asked.

"What?" Lenalee asked. She was trying to bounce the ball on her feet in front of her the way he did, failing, and having to chase it.

"Something I learned from an English sailor, before the fire. He'd seen it done in Peru, and showed it to me" Daisya turned his back to her, then looked over his shoulder. "Throw the ball over my head."

"Okay." She picked up the ball and gave it a gentle, underhand toss.

Daisya jumped, tried to kick the ball back over his head to her, missed, and landed on his backside. "Sh…rats!"

Lenalee giggled. "Want to try again? That was kind of a bad throw."

"Yeah." He scrambled to his feet and retrieved the ball. "Thanks."

She tossed the ball again, this time with a clearer idea of what he needed, and although he hit it, it went sideways as he fell. He ran for it, and they tried again.

This time, his foot connected hard, and the ball soared high over Lenalee, bounced on the grass, bounced on the edge of the fountain, and hit Kanda in the shoulder.

"Shit!" Daisya whispered from his position on the grass as they watched Kanda advance on them like a thunderhead.

"Who kicked that?" he demanded.

Daisya sat up and opened his mouth.

"I did!" Lenalee said before Daisya could confess, hoping it would defuse Kanda's rage.

Too late. Kanda was too angry to stop himself no matter who his target was, and he grabbed for her, impending mayhem in his eyes.

"Hey!" Daisya said, diving for Kanda's leg. Kanda shook him off easily, but it bought Lenalee a few precious seconds to run.

He was faster than she was, but not by very much, and although she could use her Innocence to escape, he would think that was cheating. Still, she didn't have to outrun him for long. Just ahead was the scaffolding. She tried to shut out the footfalls and invective behind her and focused everything on the lower bar. If she could reach it before he caught her, just a few more meters, almost there, then she jumped, grabbed the bar, swung herself up, and jumped for the bar above it as Kanda's fingers brushed her ankle.

She pulled herself up and sat on the bar.

"Get down here right now!" Kanda snarled, but he was a little calmer. The running had been good for him, had burned off a little of his fury.

"No," Lenalee said.

"You want me to climb up there and drag you down? 'Cause I'll do it."

"That's not what's going to happen," she said.

"Okay," he said, putting on his most contemptuous sneer. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"You are going to back off so I can come down in peace, and then you're going to go someplace else to meditate, or you're going to go back to the garden quietly. I don't care which."

"What are you going to do if I don't?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "Not speak to me for a week? Because that would be pretty nice, but it's not good enough."

Lenalee shook her head. "I won't not speak to you, I'll speak to you all the time. I'll sit next to you at every meal and make sure you're caught up on every bit of gossip I can get out of the Science Department. I'll even record myself talking and hide it in your room where you'll never, ever find it, and I'll do it for two weeks, not one."

Anyone else would have laughed. Kanda made a face like he'd bitten into a lemon. "Daisya did it, didn't he."

"Nobody hit you on purpose," she said. "It was an accident, and you weren't even hurt."

"I'm not going to apologize," he warned.

"I don't expect you to. I expect you to be civil when I get down." She knew that nice was too much to ask.

Kanda nodded, tightlipped, and backed up a few steps. "It was Daisya," he said. "You know how I know?"

Lenalee said nothing, just took proper hold of the bar, flipped down, and hung by her hands for a moment.

"If you'd kicked it, I might have actually felt it." Kanda watched as she dropped to the lower bar, then dropped down again, catching herself with her hands before finally returning to the ground.

"Then nothing happened, right?" she asked, making sure that Kanda wouldn't take his anger out on Daisya later.

"Nothing happened," he said, then he turned and headed toward the castle door.

Daisya ran toward her. "Thank you," he said, his eyes wide with astonishment and relief. "I think you saved my life! He's not still angry, is he?"

"He is a little, but he'll calm down by supper."

Daisya let out a breath of relief. "Good! He's scary when he's angry."

"You'll get used to him," Lenalee said. "He's really not that bad."

Daisya gave her a look.

"Okay." She laughed. "He is, but he's getting better."

"I don't want to even think about what he was like before!" Daisya said with a shudder.

He was like a feral cat, hissing and swiping at anyone who came near him. "He's a lot better now. You just have to learn not to let him scare you."

"I don't think I'll ever reach a point where he doesn't scare me!"

"Well, he's gone now," Lenalee said. "You know that thing you were trying to do? It's kind of like gymnastics. Maybe I can help."

"You do gymnastics?"

"I have to be able to flip and kick," she said.

"All right," Daisya said, his eyes lighting up. "That would be something, to be able to do that kick! If I ever see that guy again, I can show him how it's really done!"

They stayed in the courtyard until it was time for afternoon training. She didn't see Daisya there, but she saw Kanda, and by the time he was halfway through his katas, his face had settled into his usual scowl, the earlier affront not so much forgiven as accepted.

By the end of the day, the baths looked like heaven, dim lights, hot water and the soothing trickling sound the water made as it flowed. She found her favorite soap and went to her favorite pool, to the deepest part, where she could submerge herself in the heat that unwound tightened muscles and nerves. It had been a good day, as days at the Order went. Daisya was nice, Kanda was himself, football was fun, and Komui was so happy to see her playing that he didn't mind missing his afternoon coffee.

As soon as she was covered in water, the tears came, and she let them because she was alone. There were very few women in the Order, and they all knew when Lenalee liked to bathe so they chose not to bathe then, possibly out of respect for her status as an Exorcist, but most likely because they were afraid of her.

She knew what they said about her. They called her crazy, said she should be locked up again, said that no girl should ever be an Exorcist because girls obviously couldn't handle it. They said that the only reason Komui had his job was to keep his psycho sister in line. Some said that girls like her were whores when they grew up, and they were eagerly anticipating that day. A reputation for violent insanity was the price she paid for rebellion. She didn't understand what would happen if she survived. She wasn't thinking that far ahead, but now she would have to live with it for the rest of her life.

At the moment, though, it meant that she had the baths to herself, and she was glad, because the relief of seeing people she loved come back from a mission overwhelmed her. She was finally old enough to understand how easily they could die. Only Kanda was exempt, which made him easiest to love, but Daisya, with his warmer personality, was the closest thing she had so far to a real friend.

He'd finally found something to live for, and now that he had, his wish to die might come true. She curled up on the bench, hugging her knees close to her chest, and let her tears run freely into the water.

* * *

_Far from love the Heavenly Father_

_Leads the chosen Child;_

_ Oftener through realm of briar_

_Than the meadow mild. - Emily Dickinson_


End file.
